Separating and collecting particles of one liquid suspended in another liquid.



E. G. COTTRELL & A. C. WRIGHT.

SEPARATING AND COLLECTING PARTICLE-8 OF ONE LIQUI APPLICATION FILEDD'E0.1, 1910.

D SUSPENDED IN ANOTHER LIQUID.

12 11 W h 55:25 IHVEI'ITITFS I E 53 w/mwwz fl m d m n UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.-

FREDERICK GARDNER OOTTBELL AND ALLEN OHEEVER WRIGHT, 0F BERKELEY, CALI-FORNIA, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO PETROLEUM RECTIFYING COM-PANY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

SEPARATING AND COLLECTING PARTICLES OF ONE LIQUID SUSPENDED IN ANOTHERLIQUID.

Patented Mar. 21,1911.

Application filed December 1, 1910. Serial No. 595,099.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, FREDERICK GARDNER Co'r'rnnm. and ALLEN CmsnvnnWnrorrr, citi Zens of the United States, residing at Berkeley, in thecounty of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Separating and. Collecting Particles of OneLiquid Suspended in Another Liquid, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to the art of separating mechanical mixtures ofliquids, such as emulsions of water in oil, and particu larly to thoseprocesses and methods form- I ing thesubject matter of and disclosed inthat certain pending application for Letters Patent" made by FrederickGardner Cottrell (one of the present applicants) jointly with JamesBuckner Speed, originally filed May 20, 1909'under Serial Number497,167, allowed Aug. 24, 1909, and renewed under Serial Number 586,794,filed Oct. 12, 1910, and again allowed Oct. 18, 1910. As in saidapplication, so in this, our improvement will be described as applied tothe separation and removal of water particles from crude petroleum butit is to be understood that we do not limit our claims to thisparticular case.

Much of the crude petroleum as it comes from the wells contains drops ofwater, varying in size from those easily visible to the naked eye to aminuteness lying at the extreme range of vision of the most powerfulmicroscope. The usual processes of settling, and .of centrifuging arenot wholly effective; and that of distillation is expensive and notentirely practical; hence the process disclosed in said formerapplication, which process for the better understanding of the presentimprovement need only be briefly stated as consisting in sub jecting theemulsion to the act-ionof a powerful electric field, by bringing itbetween highly charged electrodes, whereby the particles constitutingthe inner phase of the emulsion are caused to coalesce into largermasses which may then be easily separated out, thus fulfilling a usefulurpose in the art. In said former application the importance ofpreventing the formation of shortsectional view of our apparatus.

circuiting chains of particles was emphasized by pointing out the dangerof allowing the active surfaces of the electrodes to emerge from theliquid or even to come too close to the surface, for in such case thereis a tendency for the partially ag lomerated water to collect in thesurface Iayers and cause short-circuiting of the electrode; also, bycalling attention to the down flow of the material which course preventsshort circuiting by obviating the danger of an accumulation ofWater-rich masses; and also by stating that in order to prevent theforma tion of short circuits within the liquid, due to chains ofwater-globules forming -from oneelectrode to the other, it is necessaryto prevent the potential difference between the electrodes from fallingtoo low.

Our present improvement has to do with this important feature ofpreventing shortcircuiting between the electrodes due to the formationof chains of Wat-er-globules, and our invention may be stated to consistin a process of this general nature wherein the emulsion while passingthrough the electric field, is throughout its entire course, agitated orstirred, in order to avoid short circuiting by limiting, retarding orbreaking up the formation of the chains'of water globules. a

In the accompanying drawihgs we show a form of apparatus in which ourprocess may be carried out.

In these drawingsl igure 1 is'a vertical Fig. 2 is a section on'linetr-00 of Fig. 1.

1 is an outer shell having a funnel shaped hopper, to which the emulsionto be treated is delivered by the pipe 2. Suspended from and within theshell 1 is the stationary outer-Y electrode 3, which though it maybe ofany suitable structural character 1s here shown as a conical annularseries of wires.

therefrom is a rotating inner electrode 4 which also may be of anysuitable structural character, being here shown as a conical annularseries of Wires. This inner electrode 4 is carried by a shaft 5 which isitself mounted in a spider 6 which is supported upon insulators 7 on thetop of the hopper With in the fixed outer electrode 3 and separatedofthe shell 1. Rotary motion is imparted to the shaft 5 in any propermanner, as, or example, by means of a pulley 8 and belt 9.

10 is an outlet near the bottom of the shell 1', but raisedabove thefloor thereof uids may thus be received separately.

' drawn,

' understood as- The outer or .fixed electrode is electrically connectedto the ground at 12, and is also connected by wire 13 to one of the highpotential terminals of the step-up transformer T. The other highgotential terminal of the transformer is e ectrically connected to theinner electrode 4 by a wire 14 to the shaft 5. The low potentialterminals of the transformer are connected in any suitable manner withthe source of electricity, as, for example, throu h the inductiveresistance at R, as we fin in practice that induced current is ofadvantage in balancing the load. The emulsion supplied through pipe 2asses down from the hopper and is subjected to the electric fieldbetween the fixed electrode 3 an'd the rotatin electrode 4. In itspassage it is subjected t roughout to the ac tion of high potentialcharges and is deemulsified, the water settlin in the bottom of theshell 1, so that it can readily withleaving the oil dry. During theprocess the water drops or globules tend to arrange themselves inchains, adjacent globules t en coalescing and finally separating outinto larger masses. To prevent these chains, which tend to reacln outfrom one electrode to the other, the electrodes, the emulsion in itsentire course through the electric field is agitated or stirred, in thecase here shown, by the rotation of the inner electrode, with the resultof limiting or retarding the formation of the chains or of breaking themup, so that short circuiting will not take place.

.In thus illustrating, by means of the rotation of the electrode, theagitation or stirring of the emulsion during its passage through theelectric field, we are not to be limiting ourselves to such means ofagitation. The essential step in the process erein applied-for is theagitation, or stirring of eemulsion while passing throu be efiecte inany suitable manner, though .we suggest thelrotating electrode as simpleand practical. i Having thus described our invention what out its coursethrou from short circuiting pended particles in such wise as h theelectric field, and this may we claim as new-and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. The improvement in the art of separating andcollecting particles of one liquid suspended in another liquid whichlatter is essentially a non-conductor of electricity, consisting inpassin the material to be treated through the field of electrodescdnnected to a source of electricity of suflicient voltage to producecoalescence of the suspended particles in such wise as to cause theseparation of the two'liquids throughout the body of the mixture; andagitating said mixture during and throughout its course through theelectric field in such wise as to prevent the coalescing globules fromformin complete chains short circuiting the electro es.

2. The improvement in the art of separating and collecting particles ofone liqui suspended in another liquid which latter is essentially anon-conductor of electricity, consistin in passin the material to betreated t rough the eld of electrodes connected to a source ofelectricity of sufficient voltage to'produce coalescence of the suspended particles in such wise as to cause the separation of the-twoliquids throughout the body of the mixture in which it is immersed,whereby said mixture during and through: h the electric field isagitated with the e ect of preventing the coalescing globules fromforming complete chains short circuiting the electrodes.

. 3. The improvementjn the art of se arating and collecting particles ofone iquid suspended in another" liquid which latter is essentially anon-conductor of electricity, consistin in passin the material to betreated t rough the field of electrodes connected to a source ofelectricity of suflicient voltage to produce coalescence of the sustocause the se aration of the two liquids throughout the bodyof themixture; and rotatin at least one of the electrodes whereby sai mixtureduring and throughout its course through the electric field is agitatedwith the efiect of preventing the coalescing globules from formincomplete chains short circuiting the electr es.

In testimony whereof we have signed our namm to this-specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnemes.

